Written by Jacqueline Raithel

March 14, 2009

In trying financial times, it may come as no surprise that homelessness in Richmond is on the rise.

Between January 2008 and January 2009, the number of homeless people in the city increased by 6.9 percent from 1073 to 1150, according to reports published by Homeward, an umbrella organization for several of the city’s homeless shelters. Although the difference is only 77, homeless people in Richmond represent 0.5 percent of Richmond’s total population of about 200,000, according to U.S. census information.

Demand for Richmond’s homeless shelters increased by 26 percent in that same time period, said Margot Ackermann, research and evaluation director at Homeward.

Ackermann attributed some of Richmond’s homelessness to foreclosures and loan defaults.

“We’ve seen people becoming homeless within a year of foreclosure,” she said. “Those numbers are two times what we saw in July. People have certainly been experiencing homelessness because of foreclosures and bankruptcies.”

In Richmond, the percentage of multi-unit housing structures, 42.1 percent, is nearly double the average percentage in the rest of the state, 21.5 percent. The median income for Richmond households is more than $30,000 lower than the rest of the state, according the U.S. Census Bureau. Overall, in a state where less than 10 percent of residents are below the poverty level, 22.4 percent of Richmond residents live in poverty.

Richmond’s network of homeless shelters provides two types of housing for homeless people: emergency and transitional. Emergency housing is meant for short-term use for between 30 and 90 days. Transitional housing can be used for up to 24 months.

“The key piece is providing a bed,” said Erika Haskins-Jones, director of program analysis at Homeward. “They also provide case management, also sometimes employment referrals, healthcare. The goal is to help the family figure out what the next step is. Ultimately, that plan is to provide stable housing.”

Many of these homeless shelters cater to individual people and families, but homeless children fall into a different category and are most often dealt with through the school system, Haskins-Jones said.

Because parents are often reluctant to notify the school if they and their child are homeless, schools work to recognize students who show signs of homelessness, said Mary Herrington, a licensed clinical social worker and Coordinator for the Richmond Regional Homeless Education Program.

Some of the outward signs of homelessness include frequent address changes, poor performance, falling behind and lack of socialization, Herrington said.

Before becoming completely homeless, many families move from place to place, often staying with extended family or friends. As a result, students are moved from school to school without the opportunity to settle in. Although curriculums are designed to be similar, schools rarely teach exactly the same material and homeless students can miss material or lose track of their classes, she said.

“Homeless children look like any other child, there isn’t a big H on them,” she said. “We have to look for other signs.”

For some children whose families are staying in shelters, churches and shelters provide tutoring programs. College-age volunteers sometimes work with students to improve their academic performance and encourage attendance, Herrington said.

In some situations, the Richmond Regional Homeless Education Program is willing to provide transportation for students whose emergency shelter is not in the district or even county of their original school.

Unaccompanied youth, who live separate from adult supervision but do still have family, are sometimes called “throwaways” and have few options. Many throwaways are displaced because of family conflicts and spend time staying with friends or family, but don’t admit to being homeless.

Neither the city nor the schools have the means to account for the number of students who fall into that category, therefore there are really no programs that cater to that specific group, Herrington said.

Other cities, such as Portland, Ore., or Seattle, Wash., provide specific services for those children, but Richmond does not. Funding is hard to come by, but Herrington said the Richmond Regional Homeless Education Program was advocating for programs and services appropriate for throwaways.

The program is also advocating for services aimed to support families with teenage boys, who are frequently turned away from shelters that are ill-equipped to house them.

“A lot of shelters will not take boys over 12,” Herrington said. “They’re physically not set up in the shelter to take that [because of] bathroom facilities and concerns with privacy, so boys will sometimes have to be separated from families. This is a problem that I think needs more attention than it’s getting.”

Richmond’s homeless shelters will continue advocating for increased funding and expanded programs, especially for children, but for this year, despite a general increase in homelessness, Homeward reported a 9 percent decrease in the number of reported homeless children from January 2008 to January 2009.

* Stephanie Rice, Elizabeth Hyman and Kaileigh Connolly contributed to this story.